Legendary actor, Montgomery Clift, was born Edward Montgomery Clift on Oct 17, 1920 in Omaha, NE. Clift died at the age of 45 on Jul 23, 1966 in New York City, NY and was laid to rest in Friends Quaker Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County, NY.

Early Life

Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17th,
1920 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was
the youngest son of wealthy banker, William Clift and Ethel Anderson. He had a
twin sister named Roberta and younger brother, William. His mother was adapted
at one years of age and was told by a physician at a young age that she came
from a long line of southern aristocrats. Whether or not this was true, Ethel
made the choice to live her life accordingly. Because of this, young
Montgomery's formative years were experienced with great privilege. In
accordance to aristocratic southern tradition, Ethel had Montgomery and his
siblings' home schooled by private tutors. They were educated in French,
Italian, and German and often made trips overseas to further certain aspect of
their education. After the stock market crash of 1929, the Clift family would
have to curb their affluent lifestyle as they watched their family's wealth
begin dwindle away.

In 1932 Ethel moved with her children to Sarasota,
Florida. It was there the adolescent Clift would attend public school for the
first time and develop an interest in acting. At just twelve years old he auditioned
for the local theatre company. His natural talent stuck the company and on
March 30th, 1933, Clift made his stage debut in the Rachel
Crothers's comedy As Husbands go. Later that year the family relocated to
Jackson Heights, Queens.

Early Career

When Clift family arrived to the Big Apple, Ethel
immediately began to further her youngest child's training as an actor. Despite
his father's initial reluctance in supporting his son's ambitions, the young
Montgomery could talk little of anything else and soon he began taking daily
tutoring sessions. His mother was extremely active in his acting education, taking
him nightly to stage plays, operas, and ballets. Within a year he signed to a
modeling agency, where he worked on ads for companies such as Steinway piano
and Arrow shorts. Clift's determination and training would soon pay off when he was cast in the Dorothy
Bennet/Irving Berlin play Fly Away Home. The
production opened on January 15th, 1935, marked 14-year old Monty's Broadway debut. The play was hit with both audiences and critics with Clift's mature, naturalistic performance being praised in the trade papers across the
U.S. He continued to find success on the Broadway stage. Between 1935 and 1938,
Clift continued to work as a supporting actor in plays such as Jubilee, Yr. Obedient Husband, and Eye on the Sparrow. At the end of 1938
Clift played his first leading role on the comedy Dame Nature and soon he was launched into Broadway stardom. For the
next decade Clift would continue to work on Broadway, bettering his craft and
skill as an actor and performanced in plays such as There Shall be No Night, The Skin of Our Teeth, and Our Town.

Film Career

Although Hollywood had showed interest in the young Broadway
Star through out his stage career, Clift refused their offers for a decade. He
was weary of the lack of creative and career freedom offered by studio
contracts, wanting to chose films and roles that were intriguing and
meaningful. In 1946, he found that project with the Howard Hawks' western Red River. In the film Monty plays Matt
Garth, the adopted son of the ruthless cattle rancher, Thomas Dunson played by
John Wayne. Although the film marked Clift silver screen debut, it was shelved
for two years due to legal problems and a long editing period. Because of this,
moving going audiences got their first glimpse of Clift in Fred Zinnemann's 1948
post WWII drama The Search. Clift's portrayal of an allied solider acting as caretaker to young Auschwitz survivor
in search of his mother immediately made him a critical darling and garnered
Clift his first Academy Awards nomination. Red
River was released a few months after The
Search and was a massive hit with audiences and critics. With two
successful films and two critically acclaimed performances released within six
months of each other, Clift quickly became Hollywood newest star.

The Hollywood machine began marketing Clift as a new type of
leading man. Thanks to his training as a method actor, he was incredibly
intense and seemingly fearless in his choice of role, opting to play the
villain if the challenge was there. But at the same time Clift conveyed a form
of sensitive vulnerability that challenged the traditional notions of
masculinity, becoming a leading man that women could help and take care of.
Although fast becoming Hollywood newest sex symbol with leagues of young,
female fans, Clift lived a life sexual ambiguity and was internally tormented
by his closeted homosexuality.
Despite these personal demons, Clift's career continued to flourish. In
1949 he starred opposite Olivia de Havilland in the William Wyler picture The Heiress. During the films production, Clift's method acting practices and perfectionism caused tension on set. He was
dismissive of the script and de Havilland's acting abilities, stating that she
allowed Wyler to craft too much of her performance. Despite the onset drama,
the film proved to be a hit with much praise going to Clift's turn as
villainess gold-digger.

Major Stardom

By the early 1950, Clift was one of Hollywood most popular
and most wanted leading men. In 1951 Clift was cast opposite Elizabeth Taylor
in the melodrama A Place in the Sun,
an adaptation of the novel An American
Tragedy. The film not only marked the first collaboration between Clift and
Taylor but the start of their life long friendship as well. The film centers on the working class George Eastman's social climbing/romantic ambitions and the consequences of such behaviors. For
his role as the doomed George Eastman, Clift utilized his training as a method
actor by spending time in an actual state prison. The film was major hit with
many critics singling out Clift's performance as the film's highlight. For his
efforts, Clift was yet again nominated for another Academy Awards. In 1953
Clift starred in three films. The first was as Father Michael Logan in the
Alfred Hitchcock thriller I Confess,
followed by Vittorio De Sica's Indiscretion
of an American Wife. He was next as Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, working
yet again with Fred Zinnemann in From
Here to Eternity. At this point in his career, he was so respected as an
actor, many of the films Hollywood veterans were in awe and even intimidated by
his acting presence. It is reported that the normally cool and confident Burt
Lancaster was so nervous to work with Clift that he shook in their initial
scene together. The film was a huge hit both financially and critically, again,
with much of the praise going to Clift's powerful performance. He was nominated
for his third Best Acting Oscar, but lost to William Holden. After the film,
Clift returned to New York for the off-Broadway production of Chehov's The Seagull. He would remain there for
two years, returning to Hollywood in 1956 to film another with his great
friend, Elizabeth Taylor.

Accident

Upon his return to Hollywood, Clift began work on the Civil
War romance Raintree County. Midway
through filming the, Clift suffered a terrible, debilitating car accident.
Driving home after a party at Liz Taylor's Beverly Hills home, Clift wrapped
his car around a telephone poll. A friend driving in front of Clift immediately
alerted Taylor, who rush to his side and physically dislodge a tooth in the
back of his throat that had caused him to choke. Clift's face was terribly
mangled and before any photographers could get a shot, Taylor threatened to
never work in Hollywood again if they snapped any photos. None did and soon Clift
was rushed to the hospital. Clift then underwent extensive facial
reconstructive surgery to repair a broken jaw, nose, fractured sinus and facial
lacerations. When he returned to filming weeks later, his matinee good looks
were gone. Raintree County went on to
be one of the biggest winners at the box-office that year. The reason, however,
was because many wanted to see the "pre" and "post" accident scenes that
demonstrated the destruction of Clift's once breathtakingly handsome face.
Already somewhat dependent on alcohol and pills, Clift fell further in to his
addictions. The addiction would greatly affect both his health and career.

Post accident Career

Although Clift never healed either physically, mentally, or
emotionally from the accident, Clift continued to act. His appearance was
already noticeably fragile in his next two films, Lonelyhearts and The Young
Lions. At this point his substance abuse problems were becoming
increasingly prevalent. He would next star opposite Liz Taylor and Katherine
Hepburn in Suddenly Last Summer.
Although the studio was initially reluctant to hire him due to alcohol and drug
problem, Elizabeth Taylor insisted on Clift being cast. The shoot difficult for
Clift, and the films director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, didn't make his life any
easier. It is reported that after filming had been completed, Katherine Hepburn
spit at the directors face because of they he treated the troubled actor. In
1961 he starred opposite Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits. Also that year, he appeared in the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg. Despite his
tainted professional reputation, he proved he still able to give a tremendous
performance as he played a concentration camp survivor castrated by the Nazi.
For his performance, he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy
Award. The next year he reteamed with The
Misfits director John Huston for the film Freud. However, at this point his tremendous focus, as an actor was
gone as he slipped further and further into his addictions and studios were
even more reluctant to hire him. He made one final film in 1966, he cold war
thriller The Defector. After filming
was complete, he returned to his New York, where he suffered a massive heart
attack alone in his apartment. Montgomery Clift died on July 32, 1966 of a
heart attack in his New York home. He was 45 years old.

(Source: article by Minoo Allen for Classic Movie Hub).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Although Clift was nominated for four Oscars, he never won a competitive Academy Award.

Classic Movie Legend:

By minooallen on Oct 17, 2012 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Happy Birthday to Classic Movie Legend, , born on October 17, 1920!
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Surprisingly, there was more than one. Well, not exactly. But there were several classic movie actors with either Montgomery or Clift in their names? Clifton Webb Most notable role: Waldo Lydecker in Laura Webb was a mama?s boy. He lived with his mother until she died, when he was 71. His masterful... Read full article

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By Dawn on Aug 20, 2011 From Noir and Chick Flicks

(October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966), first film was opposite John Wayne in the film, Red River(1948). Clift's second movie was, The Search. Clift, rewrote most of the script himself and the movie was nominated for a screenwriting Academy Award, but the original writers were cre... Read full article

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6104 Hollywood Blvd.

In Robert Laguardia's "Monty" (1977), the first published biography, Laguardia tells of how Clift was discomfited when he initially met co-star Burt Lancaster on the set of From Here to Eternity (1953). Lancaster was in awe of Monty and was so nervous, he actually shook during their first scene (as also mentioned in Lancaster's biography).

Hollywood folklore has it that his ghost haunts the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The actor had stayed there while filming From Here to Eternity (1953), even though all filming locations for "From Here to Eternity" were in Hawaii.